I knew as I was adding the cotton cord through the top edge that the color was going to bleed. I had often gone to bed with slightly green fingers after a night of knitting. I wasn’t worried though. I filled the sink with room temp water and added a little sampler of wool wash in Grapefruit scent and added my mass of lace.

In the sink

I went about my morning, playing Mom and such. About 45 minutes later Jack wanted to watch TV on my bed. OK, there goes the blocking space. I went into the computer-soon-to-be-Jack’s room and laid out some towels (after kicking a bunch of junk aside). I then retrieved my shawl and rolled it in a towel to get rid of most of the water.

The aftermath

Then I went about pinning the top down. This is where I learned the lesson that washing and blocking a swatch is never a bad idea. The top ended up with a 78 inch wingspan. I pinned the rest and needed to re-pin the top as it stretched enough that the top edges would be cramped and need re-blocking if I didn’t. I ended up with this:

The beast

The color is off because of the flash, I will take some better photos soon, but this does show the detail quite nicely. It ended up about 78 inches in wingspan and 40 inches in radius.

I took it off the towels this morning and wore it for a bit, and I love it. I also found that it is the prefect size for my couch, fitting across the top nicely. I can’t stop petting it. I am so proud, I can’t believe I knit this thing. And it will always hold a special place in my heart as my first ever lace project.

The love affair continues…

I started the Rona Lace Shawl (several times) and found that I don’t like bamboo DPNs anymore. I ended up doing the first few rows on my knitpicks size 3 nickel plated needles (pointier) before going with the bamboo 5s. I also found that I dislike joining 6 stitches in the round. It’s an ungodly small number. But I did get it started.

Rona Lace Beginnings

Before bed I finished round 20 and I think I’ll switch to circulars and do magic loop until it’s big enough. Bamboo is just too dull and sticky for me now. Damn you knitpicks for spoiling me!

More pics to come, more frequent updates as well (and I promise that a lot, I know). I’d like to leave you with some cuteness. Jack saw me taking pics and grinned and said “cheese” so I snapped one of him.